The mood at their home stadium was anything but joyful this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had allowed ten goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, before he admitted that the board had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Reports that his departure was imminent were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti became as messy during matches as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Presence
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this year. He was on the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. They were unable to reduce their roster without replacements.
He signed initially under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in 2022-23, almost all of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His True Position
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to determine the specific characteristics of his skill set. Labeled as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
